Steel_Wind said:
A) Ok. If we are off buying laptops now as well - ok. There are a great deal of ENworlders who already have one.
B) A poster from Australia has shown his portable and collapsible tripod mount. We use a collapsible pole. It'll fit in a nylon fishing rod tube. I'd have to swtich our other support bar to collapse as well. But it most certainly is portable - if that's the test.
C) It is faster than by hand. Easily so. You haven't read the threads. Most of these interior maps we are using are already drawn. You download them off of Paizo's site for new Dungeon maps or scan em or take em from a pdf. Prep in Tabletop mapper and go. Do even half the same level of detail on Tact-tiles or a Battlemat - you'll take longer.
D) NWN maps are used for exterior environments. Still faster than hand drawn. No - not repetitive.
E) 1500 ANSI is more than sufficient for top down projection in a room with 2 80w incandesants 2 halogen floor torch lamps and an overhead incandescant in the adjoining room. If you think it isn't - then you have not tried it.
A) And there are a great deal of EN Worlders that don't have a laptop. I guess we could do a poll to see what percentage of EN Worlders have laptops and what percentage don't. But the point is that a computer is required for the system to function.
B) Laptop, projector, and tripod is more portable than a box of Tact-Tiles, right. And you are hanging a $500 piece of equipment from a pole. Hmmm, OK. Just make sure your homeowners insurance is payed up.
C) Faster to "draw" when the map is already drawn by Paizo, sure. Having more detail on a computer generated map than on a drawing board/mat, absolutely. But faster to draw just the basic outline on the computer than on a drawing board/mat, no way. And the basic outline is all you need to play the game.
Plus, the ability to improvise is important. What happens when you have a cave-in? What happens when the party doesn't go in the direction you anticipated? What happens when a stone shape spell is used to make a passage or block one?
D) Faster in this case is relative to the map accuracy needed. If you don't really care where the exact location of a tree, bush, or rock is located you can use a pre-generated computer map. If you have a plan that requires exact locations of the features (for a staged ambush and the like), hand drawing is faster than computer drawing. Same point as before, if you just need a quick outline of the features on the battle field, hand drawing is faster. If you want more detail, computer generated maps will be faster.
E) Nope, haven't tried it or seen it except on photos. Looks like to me on most of the pictures that the room is dark. That may be a function of the photographer preference, but it does raise some concern.
I know I couldn't afford to spend that kind of loot on a digital projector.... And we don't have the resources to use one either. Nor the space.
